Refurbishment projects give school buildings a real lift and result in better learning and working environments for students and teachers – so is now the time to refurbish your college, school or academy?
By choosing to carry out building works during the school holidays, you can present your pupils and teachers alike with a fresh building for the start of the new term, providing the best support for teachers and giving students the best start to their year of learning. Refurbishment projects outside of term time have extra benefits too, including the fact the site is clear so it’s safer to perform tasks and easier too as having to turn off water and electricity, for example, won’t disrupt anyone.
Top 5 Ways Refurbishment Projects Can Help Your School
Cut Energy Bills
Many schools and colleges have old buildings at their core, which is great in terms of property character but not so good in terms of running costs as facilities are often outdated. Installing clever heating and lighting systems can make a massive change to your school’s energy bills – despite being costly to install, they offer long-terms savings, especially when compared to old systems which are expensive to run and have a higher risk of going wrong with potential for pricey repair charges.
Design For Success
Changing the layout of your school doesn’t need to be as dramatic as it might sound, as even simple changes like the location of doors make a big difference to how easily classrooms stay warm in winter and cool in summer. Internal walls can be moved to modernise the feel of the building and make the space work far better for your teachers and students – after all, the popularity of courses changes over time and it may be an open-plan room works best for some classes and a cosier layout is ideal for others, depending on student numbers. By using moving walls and internal walls, you can protect yourself against any future needs too, as it’s easy to make changes at a later date. This also enables you to match the classrooms to the teaching styles of your teachers for enhanced teaching and learning.
Positive Space
Natural light has a positive effect on individuals, boosting students’ and teachers’ morale. If your school has a lack of windows, there are plenty of options to enhance the natural light of your building – from installing new windows in strategic places and installing light tubes, to fitting roof lights and advanced lighting. Bringing more sunshine in is a great way to lift a building, and enhance the learning environment too.
Productive PPA Time
Teachers need time to plan, prepare and assess their students’ work, and having the space to do this can really boost productivity and morale levels. Often a school’s layout means teachers are pretty much based in their classroom as space in the staffroom is limited, and doing work such as marking assignments has to be done at their desk. It can also mean teachers don’t have the opportunity to relax at lunchtime and are likely to just grab a sandwich at their desk while they work. Refurbishment projects can incorporate storage systems to help keep staffrooms clear for PPA time, and can alter the layout of classrooms for better PPA space too.
External Impact
As well as refurbishing the interior of your school, maximising the design and feel of the outside of your building enables you to create the best impression on parents, potential parents and the wider community as a whole. Landscaping the building and grounds lets you display your school’s values on the outside.
We Can Help With Your School Refurbishment
All Construction Linx contractors have the experience to carry out refurbishment projects to the highest possible standard. We appreciate the demands placed on schools, colleges and academies and are fully aware of your need to balance costs and to meet regulations and codes of practice. Health and safety matters to us, and we also always observe an individual establishment’s policies as well as the standard codes of practice.
Refurbishment means more than replacing a few wobbly chairs and giving the corridors a lick of paint. The building itself needs to be looked at, to ensure it’s safe and effective as a place of learning – and is being run to its best potential in terms of supporting students to learn and teachers to teach.
We recently worked with Cloughwood Community School in Northwich, Cheshire, to refurbish the school’s sports facilities and enhance them for pupils and teachers alike. It was a wide-ranging project with works including the conversion of an existing garage into additional changing facilities, the extension of the sports hall and further alterations. Despite challenges to the school’s budget, largely from the concrete having to be excavated which caused delays to the project, we worked closely with the school and actually absorbed some of the extra costs ourselves to ensure the refurbishment project was a success.
To find out more about how our refurbishment services can help your school, college or academy, get in touch today on 01270 848700 or email info@constructionlinx.co.uk
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